Group v individual element contact

That’s an interesting observation Paulisper...
...and for what its worth, I think Tony played it just as the rules and the FAQ ruling states.

The group-column hit the enemy in the flank, but it’s the single element’s responsibility to
do the conforming (otherwise, if the group-column had to conform, that would break the
“Moving into contact with the enemy” second paragraph rule that says single elements
must conform to groups...unless that single element is entirely in bad/rough going).

However, the single element cannot turn-to-face just yet, as that only happens after the
movement phase has been completely finished. So it must conform, but can’t turn yet.

Sooo, to comply with “Moving into contact” first paragraph (where basically, at the end
of the move phase, the front-corners must touch, or the contact would be illegal), the
flanked element must do the conforming instead by moving so that the corners do touch.
Then, once the move phase has finished, it would normally turn-to-face as per the rule
at the top of page 10.

But, it cannot turn-to-face if it’s already engaged frontally, and that moving forwards
to get the corners to touch brought it into frontal contact with the Psiloi. It therefore
ends up in frontal close combat with the Psiloi, but flanked by the group-column, as
Tony showed.

Personally, I would have preferred it if turning-to-face were instantaneous on contact...
...but the rules say you have to wait until after the move phase has been completed.
I would also have preferred it so that any contact, front-edge or front-corner, would
trigger conforming...but that might cause issues with corner-to-corner contact, so
the FAQ Team decided to limit it to just a group's front-edges force conforming.

Therefore I think that both you and Tony are right.
Any contact by a moving single element causes it to conform, but moving groups only
trigger a single element to conform if the group’s front-edge makes any kind of contact.

(I could be wrong of course.... )

This situation is confusing me.  The rules say that a single element contacted by a group conforms to the group, immediately.  If the single element is  contacted front on flank or rear, corner to corner, the element turns at end of movement.  One situation for "conform"  another for "turn to face".  The FAQ is quite clear, "Q: I have a line of cavalry that moves into contact with the side edge of a single Light Horse element. Does the Light Horse turn to face immediately or only at the end of the movement phase?
A: At the end of movement. >> If the contact is not in front edge to side edge contact with front corners in contact, the Light Horse conforms immediately.<<  The turn occurs after the movement phase."

In the example game, a column of spears contacted a single element in the flank, with its middle, not its front corner.  This is a Conform not a Turn situation.  As it happened, when the single element conformed to the group, it moved such that it was now contacted in a legal flank situation by a Psiloi that was there already.  At the end of movement, the single element was in frontal contact with the group as a result of the conforming, so the Psiloi had no impact on the single element except to give a -1 and a destroy if beaten.

What am I missing?

---

I guess it’s to avoid the bizarre situation where you put a stronger unit, eg Kn, into the flank, get it to turn and then, later in the same bound, hit it in what would have previously in that bound been the front by another, weaker element, say a Ps, in order to get a favoured match-up. The unit should logically stay facing towards the initial threat closing in on its front...


P

So if the knight were a single element, it would have to conform to the flank, get those front-corners
touching, and the flanked enemy wouldn’t have to turn-to-face until AFTER the move bound.

And if the knight were part of a group that made flank contact WITHOUT the front-corners touching,
the flanked enemy WOULD have to instantly turn-to-face.

So the golden tactic is...never move a group into a flank contact with those front-corners touching.
Then you CAN make the enemy dance to your tune.
But if the group DOES contact the flank and the front-corners DO touch, they enemy won’t turn till later.

All seems unnecessarily convoluted to me.
Still, the rules are the rules...

No, I think Bob is right, as the FAQ says:-

        Q: I have a line of cavalry that moves into contact with the side edge of a single Light Horse element.
             Does the Light Horse turn to face immediately or only at the end of the movement phase?
        A: At the end of movement (stand by for the apparent contradiction). If the contact is not in front-edge
            to side-edge contact with front-corners in contact, the Light Horse conforms immediately (there it is).
            (Now the clarification) The turn occurs after the movement phase (but the conforming happens instantly.
            It all depends on if the front-corners are touching or not).

Why didn’t they just say “you only turn-to-face if there is an ‘r’ in the month”.
It would have been much easier to understand.
                              

No, the element that conformed into the front of the column stays in frontal contact with the column, and does not respond to a later contact. Once two elements are in front to front, corner to corner contact they stay that way. When the Anglo-Danish column hit the Norman element, the Norman should conform to the column, and the Psiloi is just a flanking element. The Norman element does not disengage from the column to turn to face the Psiloi.  See below the column hitting the single element, which should turn to face.

You know what Paulisper?...I now think that YOU are right (and thus I was also right in my first post).

Bob is assuming that conforming means having a front-edge in contact (so that conforming also entails turning).
But the rules are saying that conforming is NOT necessarily getting the front-edge in contact, just lining-up as in
one of the four positions listed on page 9 paragraph 9:-
    (a) in full mutual front-edge contact (sliding so corners touch), or
    (b) in full front-edge to rear-edge contact (corners touching), or
    (c) in front-edge to side-edge contact (with front-corners touching), or
    (d) with no enemy in contact to its front, but in an overlap position.

This interpretation is backed-up by the last sentence in paragraph 10:-
    When to conform: Unless turning to face a flank or rear contact (see p.10), contacted elements conform at contact.

It is further reinforced by page 10 paragraph 1:-
    Immediately after the movement phase, elements contacted to flank or rear by an enemy front-edge turn to face the first enemy
    element to contact them (unless they are already in full front-edge contact with another enemy element, or providing rear support).

Last of all, it is confirmed by the FAQ:-
    (Turn) at the end of movement. If the contact is not (already) in front-edge to side-edge contact with front-corners in contact,
    the Light Horse (first) conforms immediately.
    The turn occurs after the movement phase (but the conforming happens instantly).

That’s three times the flanked element is mentioned has having to wait before turning.

Therefore:-
If the flanking force already has the front-corners touching, it is conformed as per item (c) above,
so the turn has to wait.
If the front-corners are NOT touching, the single element has to move so that it does conform as per item (c) above,
and again the turn has to wait.

(Have I got it right this time? )